Mildred Bryant Brooks (1901-1995)

I have a thing for etchings created by artists during the 1930s and 40s who belonged to the group, Associated American Artists. I have a collection of them nicely framed and arranged somewhat neatly on my bedroom wall. I am drawn to the array of styles and artists’ subject matter which most often reflected the social ideas of the time. I always keep my eyes peeled for one more that strikes me. Before, searching and obtaining a print would often take precedence over paying bills and or buying daily grocery necessities. In the past eight or so months, I’ve had to reign in that weakness.

But a few months back, I came across one artist who I am crazy for. I don’t know much about her other than what I’ve scoured up on the internet. I believe she wasn’t part of the association but she captured such a mood and feel of her time in her compositions. I don’t have any of her prints but I am memorized by many of her works. Sweet and mournful are the only words I can come up with. And, perhaps, a feeling of being haunted mixed in.

On July 21, 1901 Mildred Bryant Brooks was born in Marysville, Missouri. Her mother was a painter, her father was a scientist. Her family moved to Long Beach, California in 1907. She studied at the University of Southern California and the Otis and Chouinard Art Institutes. Brooks worked for Chryson’s Incorporated as a Christmas card designer in the 1920s. In 1929, she began etching studying under Arthur Millier. It was also the year when she began teaching at the Stickney Art Institute in Pasadena. Her etchings were shown in numerous local and national exhibitions throughout the 1930's until the mid 1940's. She won many awards.

Companions won first prize at the Chicago Society of Etchers in 1937. This was the first time the Society had honored a Westerner, let alone a woman. During the Depression she was able to support her family with her printmaking. (An edition of the above print was posted on eBay.)

In 1946, she was an artist-in-residence at Pomona College. In 1952 and 1954, she taught at the Los Angeles County Art Institute. By this time she lived in South Pasadena. Suffering from failing eyesight, she tried working with large mural paintings. In the later decades, she allegedly also worked as an interior designer and decorator. Intruguing....

Ill health eventually forced her into a Santa Barbara, California rest home, where she died on July 3, 1995.

Spring (1932)
Rachel Davis Fine Arts - Cleveland, Ohio


Moods (1935), Cleveland Museum of Art

The Pines of Monterey (1935), Smithsonian American Art Museum


Her works are in the collections of the LACMA; Laguna Art Museum; Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego, California; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; National Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Library of Congress, New York Public Library, Cleveland Museum of Art, Dayton Art Institute, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; University of Vermont, Burlington and the Los Angeles Public Library.

My Friends (1935)

November (unknown date); Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco click HERE to view others.


(Top picture currently available on eBay)

Her titles are somewhat curious, as well as somewhat obvious. Regardless, very mezmorizing indeed.